


Pistol Packin' Mama

by Acro111



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 18:03:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21058670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acro111/pseuds/Acro111
Summary: Nora had grabbed Shaun. Nora watched as they took Nate away, but Nora is going to get him back. Unless Nate finds her first.Alternate Universe where the Sole Survivor's Spouse is taken by The Institute instead of Shaun.





	1. Escape Vault 111

“Cryo-pod stasis failure.”

Nora struggled to move. Everything felt stiff and heavy, she wanted to curl up and go back to sleep, but her senses were shocked awake by the shrill cries of her son. Where was she? What was going on—

The bombs! The bombs fell. She grabbed Shaun from his crib and raced with Nate to the vault. They were in their decontamination...depressurized...pods? Nora’s head split with pain as she struggled to remember.

Nate! Something happened to Nate. 

Nora couldn’t see, and began to hyperventilate. Where were her glasses? Why was everything so cold? Where was everybody? Every realization physically made her recoil as her head throbbed with pain.

Nora became aware of a voice echoing through the vault talking about some kind of system failure. Shaun was shivering and wailing in her arms, he was nearly blue with ice dusting his lashes. “Shaun?” Nora strained against her sore muscles to raise one hand to stroke his forehead. Her own hand was nearly as blue as Shaun’s delicate skin.

The door to her decontamination pod opened with a hiss and Nora stumbled out, clutching Shaun to her chest and trying to soothe him. Something clattered to the ground and Nora assumed it was her glasses falling off her face. 

The vault was freezing. Nora curled her body around Shaun, hunching over as if to hide him from the cold, trying to warm him.

“Hello?!” Nora called out, craning her neck back from her hunched position. Her heart was racing. What the hell happened?! She coughed, her chest struggling to take in all the air it could. Her throat felt raw and she was painfully aware of every move her body made. Shaun continued to wail.

“Shhh, shhh,” she bounced him in her arms. She looked across the aisle at Nate’s pod and felt like she’d been kicked in the chest. It was empty. “No! No no no no no!” Nora staggered over to the control panel beside the pod. She finally straightened herself upright, shifting to balance Shaun on her hip. She ignored his crying long enough to fiddle with the controls. Growing frustrated she slammed her fist on the panel, “come on, come on, come on! Open, damn it!” She whined and shouted, bouncing Shaun on her hip. She bit her lip, ignoring the taste of blood that flooded her mouth. 

The pod was empty, with only a bloodstain to show he had ever been there.

“Nate,” Nora whimpered. She pressed her head to the frozen padding in the pod. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember what had happened. Someone was looking in her pod. They were struggling with something. She remembered asking them what was going on, but eventually they were told by a man with a scar across his face to go to ‘The Backup’. She remembered hearing Nate shout for her.

“Nora! Nora! I’ll come back to you! Shaun! No! Nora, Shaun, I love you!”

Nora felt hot tears escape the corners of her eyes and fall off her cheeks.

“I’m coming, Nate. I’m going to find you.” She stared hard at the bloodstain, as if that would give her the answers she needed. 

Shaun squirmed and cried on her hip. Nora turned her attention to him, she held him in her arms and kneeled down as gently as she could. Her glasses thankfully hadn’t shattered and she swiftly replaced them on her face. The room was frozen, but Nora could tell from the dripping water coming from seemingly everywhere that it was in the process of thawing. She stood back up, making sure a squirming Shaun was secure in her arms, she stumbled to the front of the room. “Hello!” She called out, “Is anyone there?!” There was only a skeleton in a lab coat by the door that heard her cries. Nora went from pod to pod, hoping to find someone, anyone, that was still alive. 

“They’re all dead.” Nora realized, swallowing hard. Her heart was beating wildly in her ears and Shaun squirmed uncomfortably in her arms. Grimacing, Nora approached the skeleton by the door. She looked at its coat and decided she didn’t have much of a choice. Shaun needed to be warmed up...now! She ripped the coat from the skeleton, beat the dust off it by whipping it against the wall, and wrapped Shaun up. Now swaddled up, Shaun didn’t squirm or cry as much, he still whimpered, but Nora could feel he was warming up and relaxing. Nora felt around the door with a free hand and found a release handle towards the bottom of the door. Grasping it, Nora struggled to raise the level with just one hand. It lurched upwards with a loud clank and the door raised with a hiss. “Hello!” Nora called again, “Is anyone there!” Her voice was sore, but still echoed in the empty vault. “We can’t be the only ones, we can’t be,” Nora whispered to Shaun. The door leading out of the vault was jammed, thankfully, the door to her right was not.

Nora found another skeleton with a lab coat and gave that one the same treatment as the last one, except this time she fashioned a pouch out of its sleeves and length. Now, with Shaun secured to her back Nora moved forward carefully.

She found a crowbar on a table and held it like a bat incase anyone or anything tried to jump her. 

Nora could feel Shaun snuggle between her shoulder blades and took a deep breath. 

They were going to be okay. They were going to be fine.

Something squeaked and skittered across the floor and in a panic Nora stomped her foot. The creature was the size of a small dog and squealed as its body crumpled under her boot. Gingerly lifting her foot she physically heaved. The creature had been a huge roach, much bigger than any roach she had ever seen. It made her skin crawl.

“Giant roaches?” Nora breathed. “What the hell happened?” Shaun, thankfully didn’t seem bothered by her sudden movement, but when Nora came across eight more roaches she was more careful about how jerky she was when she moved.

She reached what she assumed to be the overseer’s office and found a lone skeleton sprawled backwards behind the desk and a discarded pistol. Nora debated taking the gun. She didn’t want to harm Shaun’s ears or possibly put him in harm's way, but if the roaches got bigger who knows what else changed on the surface, and a gun would be handy. Ultimately, and with a grimace, Nora picked the gun up. She tried to remember how Nate would dismantle this guns, but decided to just carry the pistol around pointed down and away from her feet. There was a locked crate on the wall, most of it was iced over, and a frozen vapor blocked the view of whatever was inside. “I’ll come back for you,” Nora mumbled to herself, tapping on the frozen case. 

She exited the office and found four more roaches. She whacked every single one with her crowbar, and wiped off the sprayed guts on old lab coats and vault suits that were laying around. The giant door to the vault entrance was closed. How the hell was she supposed to get out? She searched around for a switch or a valve to flip or turn, but found nothing. There had to be a way out, there just had to be! Nora tried to even her erratic breathing. What was she going to do if she couldn’t get out? Was there any food left in this place? Was there any water? Nora had seen some things in a cafeteria-like area as she walked through the vault, but most of it looked and smelled disgusting, as if it’d gone bad months ago. Shaun squirmed on her back and Nora took a deep breath. If she panicked now Shaun would become fussy, and she didn’t want to risk attracting attention to herself. Thankfully the only living thing she had come across were gross, mutated, gigantic bugs, but she didn’t want to chance anything else finding them. 

Nora stepped over the skeletons in lab coats, searching for a key or keycard, or even instructions on how to open the vault door, but found nothing. Just as she was about to give up and start searching for external vents, her foot brushed by the skeleton by the walkway platform. Something heavy clunked underfoot and Nora stepped back to see a Pip-Boy attached to the wrist of the skeleton. She kneeled down, the screen was filthy, and the clasps had been undone. “Sorry,” she muttered as she lifted the Pip-Boy, the skeletal arm dropped from its constraints with a clatter. 

Nora secured the Pip-Boy to her left wrist and wiped the screen off with her thumb. Bright green text flashed across the screen before Nora could read it, then a logo faded into view, _“Thank you for-”_ the screen glitched and made a static ‘bzzt’ sound. Nora held the Pip-Boy away from her face. When she pulled it back, a boy character walked in place in the center of her screen, with a smaller, identical character walking beside them.

_“Two-party Pip-Boy”_ the top of the screen read.

Nora squinted suspiciously at the machine on her wrist. “That can’t be right,” she thought. The year on the Pip-Boy said 2287. “This thing’s got to be busted.” She hit it a few times, the screen fizzled, but nothing changed. Nora frowned. “No, that’s impossible.” She told herself, “remember when your old video games would lose track of time if you didn’t play them often?” She reasoned with herself, “Same thing.” No. Two hundred and ten years had not passed in the blink of an eye. Impossible.

Nora looked at the screen to see what else was available to her. 

_“Name(s)”_ A square at the bottom of the screen kept flashing. Nora hit it and two boxes took up the whole screen.

_“Adult:”_ and _“Child:”_

Nora wasn’t sure she liked the idea of the machine knowing Shaun was with her. She shook her head, “You sound like your uncle” she rolled her eyes, “Not everything is an observation device.” But, Nora knew statistically that many things were. She worked as a lawyer, protecting the rights of Asian American’s and other minorities as tensions between China and the United States got tighter and tighter. She’d caught several police officers in lies, planting bugs in known Asian American communities as a way to “make sure they weren’t commies”. Ridiculous. Some of those people were more American than the people enforcing the law. Nora sighed. Hopefully in the time she’d been underground people had come to their senses. 

Shaking off her hopeful thoughts, Nora typed her name and Shaun’s name into the device. _“Thank You!”_ It cheerfully typed out before typing up a new sentence. _“Welcome, [Nora] and [Shaun] to your very own Pip-Boy 3000 mark IV © ! This Pip-Boy will alert you to all your biological needs,”_ Nora’s head swam as the text typed itself out on her wrist. _“Such as: Hunger, Thrist, Sleep,”_ the text was corrupted for a line before cutting back in, _“As well as showing you any aches and/or pains you need to attend to,”_ The walking man on the earlier screen popped back up, his arm was flashing and a text box appeared next to it, _“Your Pip-Boy 3000 mark IV © will alert you when it is time to grab a Stimpak and heal up!”_ The little walking man held up a cartoon needle and jabbed it into his arm, it stopped flashing. _“It will also warn you of radiation and-”_ the text was corrupted from then on. Nora hit the Pip-Boy twice more and new text flashed across the screen.

_“You are near a Vault-Tec ® Vault Door. It has been 76560 day(s) since the All Clear. Would you like to open the Vault-Tec ® Vault Door?” “Yes.” “No.”_

“Yes, please.” Nora whispered as she hit the ‘yes’ button.

Something clicked on the back of her Pip-Boy and a small white plug-in dropped from its holder on the back of the machine. Nora grabbed it and pulled, a long cord stretched out. She looked at the end of the plug-in and saw it matched up with an orange outlet on the nearby control panel. “Why the hell not?” Nora mumbled to herself as she jabbed the plug-in into the outlet. An orange button popped out of the control panel and Nora punched it with all her might. Something heavy ca-chunked and Nora stepped back as warning lights started flashing. Shaun cried behind her and Nora pulled him around to hold him to her chest. “Shhh,” she soothed him, bouncing and swaying from leg to leg. “Shh it’s okay, baby.” She pressed her cheek to the top of Shaun’s head. He was finally warm. Nora shielded her eyes as a blinding white light flooded the entrance to the vault. The large gear-shaped door rolled to the side and a walkway slid out and clattered across the gap between the vault and the exit. Nora took a shaky breath and tested the walkway. It held her up. She kept one arm wrapped tightly around Shaun and gripped the walkway guardrail with her other hand. The light was blinding, but she managed to walk down the stairs with shaky steps and step onto the rusted elevator. As the metal grate closed over the opening, Nora looked down at her wedding ring.

“I’m coming, honey.”


	2. Piper Wright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora leaves Sanctuary to find an old friend in the green jewel of the Commonwealth

**One Month Later: November 23rd 2287**

“Codsworth, are you sure you and Shaun will be okay?” Nora held herself tightly. It felt weird to not be holding Shaun. 

“Of course ma’am!” Codsworth nodded one of his opticals at her, “And if there is something I cannot do, I am sure Mr. Long or Mr. Garvey would be more than happy to help.”

“Yeah, sure.” Nora looked away. She wasn’t sure if she had the same amount of faith in the other men as Codsworth did. Preston was kind and had helped her so much in the past month, but he didn’t exactly scream ‘paternal’ to Nora. She could tell by the way he always scrunched his nose up at Shaun when she took care of him. Jun, on the other hand, had been a father. She trusted Jun enough to watch Shaun a few times, it was more his wife that Nora didn’t trust. It was almost like Marcy blamed Nora and Shaun for her son’s death. She bit her lip and shook her head. “Maybe I shouldn’t go yet. Maybe I should improve my shooting skills and take Shaun with me--”

“Absolutely not, ma’am!” Codsworth’s motors whirred. “The wasteland is no place for a babe as delicate as young Shaun.”

Nora sighed, “You’re right.” She fiddled with the Pip-Boy on her wrist. She had discovered a week ago that no matter how far she strayed from Sanctuary Shaun’s health was always displayed on her Pip-Boy next to her own health. Plus, Codsworth had watched Shaun while Nora had gone off to Concord and found Preston Garvey and his traveling party. But that had only been for a day and a half, who knew how long Nora would be gone this time?! 

“Ma’am,” Codsworth leaned one optical forward and pressed it to Nora’s forehead comfortingly, “I will watch young Shaun. You go find Master Nate and bring him home for us.”

Nora swallowed and nodded, “You’re right. Alright.”

“Good.” Codsworth sounded pleased with himself as he leaned back, “I know those maternal instincts kick in, but you needn’t worry.”

Nora smiled, “Thank you, Codsworth. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Take care, ma’am.” Nora was sure if Codsworth could, he’d be smiling.

She walked down the hall of her old house and peeked into Shaun’s room. Her little baby was still asleep after his breakfast, so Nora leaned down and lightly kissed his forehead. He smiled and Nora’s heart melted a little. She wanted to scoop him up and smother him in kisses, but if she did that she’d never find Nate. “I’ll be back soon, love.” she whispered.

She left her old decayed home after giving Codsworth a hug and whistled into the silent neighborhood. “Dogmeat!” She called. A german shepherd came bounding down the road towards her, he skidded to a stop by her feet and expectantly looked up at her. “Ready to go, boy?” she scratched him behind his ears and he gave out a playful bark.

“Heading out, ma’am?”

Nora looked up at Preston Garvey. Last of the Minutemen. She nodded, “Finally heading out.”

“I know this isn’t your business. And you don’t have to make it a priority, but I would appreciate it if you have the time, if you’d check on some people for me.” He sheepishly requested.

Nora winced, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to join Preston’s noble cause. Then again, if she helped him out, perhaps he would return the favor in the future. “Sure.” She tensely answered.

“Thank you,” Preston seemed to relax his shoulders, “I’ll mark it on your map,” He stood next to her as Nora pulled up the map on her Pip-Boy. “It’s a little out of your way, but like I said, no rush. I understand this isn’t your priority.” He held his hands up in defense and stepped back after he put a pin on her map.

“It’s fine.” Nora lied, waving him off. They awkwardly stared at each other before Nora clapped her hands, “Well, I’m--”

“Nora!” Sturges, a handyman part of Preston’s company, ran up to the pair, “Heard you were heading out and wanted to give you something.” He handed her a pile of folded up clothes.

“Clothes?” She asked.

“Plenty of people out there will be wanting to take advantage of you if they see you in that Vault Suit.” Sturges explained, “This is to hide the fact that you’re a Vaultie.”

“Sturges is right.” Preston nodded, “Good thinking,” he clapped his friend on his back. Sturges smiled and nodded back at him.

“Take advantage of me?” Nora repeated. Now she really didn’t want to leave.

“Ya know, rip ya off? Take yer caps. Steal your stuff.” Sturges explained.

Nora let out a breath she’d been holding, “Oh, okay.” 

“It ain’t much, but it should hide your suit. Course, your vault suit is pretty heavy duty, probably’ll provide enough heat and protection out there.” Sturges looked her suit over.

“Thank you.” Nora finally choked out. She unfolded the clothes, finding a tan jacket, tattered jeans, and a checkered scarf. “I’ll put these on and head out I guess.” Both men nodded at her and wished her luck. Nora ducked into her neighbor's house, unoccupied by any of the other members of Preston’s company, and slipped the clothes on over her vault suit. She immediately felt warmer. As she checked all her pockets she found a second checkered scarf in one of the pockets. 

Nora debated giving it back to Sturges, incase he didn’t mean to give her two, but then she glanced down at Dogmeat. “Come ‘ere, pal.” She kneeled down. Dogmeat obediently trotted over and sat down in front of her. “You are so smart,” she whispered as she tied the scarf around Dogmeat’s neck. “Yes you are,” she scratched his head, ignoring how greasy and dirty he felt. Everything was greasy and dirty nowadays, it was just something Nora had gotten used to since leaving the vault. 

Now, she was finally ready to go. Pistol loaded, ammo packed, dog dressed, vault suit covered. Nora stopped at the end of the bridge. She looked back at Sanctuary, Mama Murphy, Sturges, and Preston were standing on the other side. She tentatively waved at them, they waved back. “Okay,” Nora told herself, “One foot in front of the other.” She stepped onto the road to Concord and started her long trek to Boston. Mama Murphy had told her an old friend would be waiting for her in the “green jewel of Boston”, whatever that meant. She walked by the dead body of the...what did they call it...Deathclaw? It had attracted large mosquito-like and bloated looking giant flies since it had been killed a few weeks ago. Nora decided to walk on the outskirts of Concord to avoid wasting her bullets on mutated bugs. Dogmeat would occasionally run ahead of her and bark playfully for her to catch up, and sometimes he would bite the sleeve of her jacket and pull her off to a hidden cache of weapons, ammo, or supplies. Whoever had trained this dog had been damn good at it. Shame he was found alone at the Red Rocket by Sanctuary. Nora hoped it was because his previous owner was dead and not that Dogmeat had been abandoned. 

Night time crept up on Nora as she reached Cambridge, and she found a decayed house to hide in for the night. Even though she was cold, she didn’t light a fire. She didn’t want to attract unwanted attention. She sat in a corner, gun still drawn, knees pulled to her chest as she shivered in the cool November air. College memorabilia was littered across the house and Nora realized as Dogmeat settled down next to her that she was probably in some old frat house or off campus housing near M.I.T. She reached out and scratched Dogmeat as he laid his head on her stomach, getting lost in her college memories as her eyelids felt heavier and heavier.

Before Nora knew it, it was morning again. She had laid down at some point in the night, cuddling up with Dogmeat for warmth. Dogmeat licked her face good morning and he stood, excited to get walking. Nora stretched her sore body out and wiped Dogmeat’s slobber off her face. She’d survived her first night in the wasteland. The first of what Nora worried would be several. 

She double checked her pockets and her gun before she peeked outside at the harshly sunlit street. “Okay, just take things nice and slow.” Nora told herself. The last thing she wanted was to roll up to this “green jewel” completely sweaty and out of breath. Although she was sure no one would care (no one she’d encountered since leaving the vault seemed to care too much about personal hygiene), she didn’t want to feel or look gross if she was supposedly meeting “an old friend”. Nora’s headache came back. It was nearly constant nowadays, a consistent splitting ache down the front of her skull and around her temples. Some days she could handle the pain, others left her crippled and unable to move. Anytime she thought too hard about the past or about how much time had really passed she couldn’t move for hours. Shaking away the thoughts and growing knot in her stomach, Nora focused on her walk.

Dogmeat stood in the center of a bridge, wagging his tail at her. Nora smiled at him. He was a good dog. She’d wanted a dog when Shaun was born, but Nate had persuaded her to get Codsworth. Now she had both, and she was grateful Dogmeat seemed to like Shaun and vice versa. As Nora walked closer to Dogmeat, his ears turned and twitched. He turned away from her and lowered himself to the ground with a growl. Nora paused. She strained her ears to hear what he was hearing, but there was nothing. “Dogmeat?” she questioned.

She kneeled beside him, “What is it boy?” she whispered. Then she saw it. Nearly imperceivable movement in the shadows of the buildings of Boston. Then, a scrawny humanoid shape snarled and lunged out of the darkness. Nora screamed as she aimed her pistol and fired off the entire chamber. 

Whatever it was flailed as it dropped dead a few feet from them. Nora had no time to see what it was as five more came from the darkness of Boston and charged at them. Nora barely processed what she was doing as she reloaded her pistol and fired off more shots. Dogmeat growled and ran at one of the creatures, grabbing its leg and viciously shaking it. Nora’s heart was beating like a rabbit in a cage as she backed up against a car. She screamed when one of the creatures lashed out and scratched her face. She could feel wetness drip down her jaw and knew the skin was broken. Dogmeat tackled the creature and ripped its jugular out. Nora finished off the other two creatures and slid down the side of the car. 

Now that she wasn’t shooting for her life, Nora looked at the creatures that had attacked. Even with their melted, mutated skin, she shuddered as she realized they were former humans. She breathed heavily and gingerly touched where she’d been scratched. Would she turn into one of those things? She could feel sweat gathering on her forehead. Hell, was she infected somehow? What was going to happen to her--

Nora flinched as Dogmeat sat next to her and licked the blood off her face. She took a shaky breath. If Dogmeat, who had been nothing but well-behaved, well-trained, and clearly well-skilled enough to take down these zombies was calmly licking her face, Nora figured she was going to be alright. She gave him a thankful pat and stood up. “Giant bugs, zombies, Deathclaws, what else has changed?” she sighed as she continued her walk.

Signs throughout Boston revealed to Nora what the “green jewel” meant. “Of course!” Nora slapped her forehead, “The stadium!” Painted diamonds and arrows pointed her towards Fenway Park in the inner parts of Boston. 

“Gosh, Dogmeat, I sure am silly sometimes.” She smiled down at Dogmeat who wagged his tail. 

As she recalled her way to Fenway, Nora could hear the growing sounds of gunfire. She kept away from the sound as she got closer and closer to the old stadium. Unfortunately for her, there was no way pass the gunfire. Men dressed as umpires fired off into the decayed buildings just a block away from the park.

“Super Mutants Are The Future!” A gruff voice roared and Nora screamed in shock as a large, green, beastial looking hound charged at one of the men.

“You! Civilian! Get out of here!” One of them waved her off.

But Nora watched in horror as towering green monstrosities fired down upon the men. The one that yelled at her took a bullet to the gut and fell backwards. Nora ran without thinking and stood over him, yanking his pistol from his hands and aimed it at one of the large creatures. She took a breath and fired. The beast screamed, “Now! I’m! Angry!” 

Shit.

“Get out of here!” The umpire man shouted. Nora didn’t listen to him, instead she dragged him inside of a nearby diner and hid him behind the walls. 

“Here,” she fished through her pockets and found a stimpak. 

“Wha--?”

Nora popped her head up over the wall and aimed out the open window at one of the creatures. She fired off another round and the beast she’d shot earlier stumbled over the destroyed wall and landed with a sickening crack on the ground. She tried to fire again, but the gun just clicked. “Ammo!” She shouted at the man beside her. She could hear him patting himself down and didn’t look as he slapped something in her hand. Going through the motions, Nora reloaded the gun and aimed again. 

“Dogmeat! No!” Nora cried as her furry companion took off running. He clashed in midair with the mutated hound. Nora wanted to shoot the beast attacking her friend, but didn’t want to risk shooting Dogmeat. With a wince and a groan, Nora focused her fire back on the humanoid creatures. She shrieked as a bullet whizzed by her head and she ducked down.

“Where’d you learn to shoot like that?” The man asked her, breathlessly.

“I didn’t.” Nora answered honestly, she swallowed the rock forming in her throat, and popped her head back up. She aimed and fired. Another one of the creatures died with a roar. Dogmeat whimpered and whined. Nora cursed and tore herself from the grabbing hands of the man telling her to stay under cover. She climbed through the window frame and kicked the mutated hound away from Dogmeat. She fired the remaining rounds into the hound and hoisted Dogmeat into her arms. Dodging bullets and--was that a fucking grenade?! Nora ran back to cover.

“Give him one!” she tossed another stimpak at the man. 

She pulled her pistol out and unloaded her bullets into the remaining two creatures. With the help of two other umpires they were able to take them down. “Over here!” Nora called to the other men when they realized the coast was clear.

“Civilian! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” One of the men asked, he wore sunglasses over his eyes, unlike the other two, who wore goggles. 

“I just saved this man’s life,” Nora pointed at the man on the ground. Though he had taken the one stimpak she had given him, he still had to deal with the bullet hole in his gut. “And I think I stopped those creatures from killing more of you.” She put her hands on her hips.

“Creatures?” The sunglasses guard asked, “You mean Super Mutants?” he asked.

Nora swallowed hard. She recalled what Sturges and Preston had warned her of and crossed her arms, “Whatever.” She dismissed. “You’re welcome.” she kneeled back down to check on Dogmeat, who, aside from a few scratches and bite marks, was okay. She kissed the top of his head and stood up, “Come on, Dogmeat.” She patted her thigh. Dogmeat stood up and Nora was thankful he wasn’t limping.

“Hey,” The guard with the sunglasses caught her arm, “Head into Diamond City, see if Dr. Sun can patch up your cheek.” 

Nora tried to see his eyes through his shades, but they were too dark. She nodded and yanked her arm from his grasp. She made it to a makeshift wall made of junk before she let out the breath she’d been holding. “I hate this world, Dogmeat.” She planted her hands on her knees as she doubled over and tried not to get sick. She checked her Pip-Boy.  
Shaun was doing good. He had been fed recently and was currently sleeping according to the device. 

Shaking off the sickness in her stomach, Nora straightened up and walked towards the gates of Fenway.

“Come on, Danny,” A woman was shouting at a little box, “You can’t keep me out, I live here!”

Nora raised an eyebrow at her. She had dark wavy hair under a brown cap and was wearing a tattered, red leather coat and green scarf. She was shivering as the wind whipped by. “Sorry, Piper,” a voice came out of the little box, “Mayor’s orders.”

“Mayor’s orders, mayor’s orders!” Piper repeated mockingly. “Open the gate!” She stomped one of her feet stubbornly.

Nora stepped closer, “Sorry, excuse me, is everything alright?”

Piper jumped, “Oh, sorry, didn’t see you there--” her eyes lit up mischievously, “Hey, follow my lead.” Nora didn’t have time to question her as Piper held a hand up to her ear, “What’s that? You hear that, Danny? This lady’s got things to trade and caps to spend.”

There was a sigh over the box, “Really, Piper?”

“No, seriously!” Piper defended herself. She leaned over to Nora and whispered, “Come on, Blue, play along.”

Nora squinted suspiciously at Piper but spoke up, “uhh, Yes! Many things to trade...caps to...spend?” She cursed herself. She didn’t sound convincing at all.

There was another sigh over the box, “Fine, I’ll let you in.”

“Yes.” Piper fist pumped, she turned to Nora, “Thank you so much.” She smiled as she turned to the gate. There was a loud, grinding metal sound and the gate to Fenway opened up. “Welcome to Diamond City,” Piper smirked at Nora over her shoulder. “Come on, Blue, follow me.” 

Nora jogged to catch up with Piper as she walked into the stadium, “Why do you keep calling me Blue?”

“Because,” Piper sharply turned on her heel and Nora had to skid to a stop to keep from running into her. “Your suit is showing,” Piper pressed a finger to Nora’s collar bone. When Nora looked down at her exposed suit Piper flicked her finger up hitting her nose. Nora scowled at her. Piper smiled and turned back around, however, she didn’t make it to the stairs before a large man slammed the door open.

“I thought I told you that you and your lies were not welcomed here, Ms. Wright.” The man hissed sharply at her.

Piper sighed and rolled her eyes, “Blue, tell me, what do you think of the news?” She turned to Nora.

Nora looked between Piper and the older gentleman, there was clearly some animosity between them, and while Piper rubbed Nora the wrong way, this new man smelled of corruption. She could spot it a mile away before the war, and it seemed to have carried on into her current situation. “Freedom of the press.” Nora shrugged her shoulders, “I think if you have the facts to back what you say, you should be able to express yourself.”

“Ha!” Piper laughed victoriously at the man.

The man’s face turned red, “I’ll be watching you, Ms. Wright, and your little friend, too.”

“Dry up you old prune.” Piper snapped. “Now, if you don’t mind. I’ll be going home now.” She pushed past the old man, “Since I live here.” Nora followed Piper closely, not wanting to be shut out of Fenway. “Sorry about Mayor McDonough.” Piper sighed as they made it into Fenway Park.

“Not a problem,” Nora waved it off, “I dealt with plenty of McDonough’s in my lifetime.”

“Really? A Vaultie like you has to deal with McDonough’s?” Piper asked.

“It’s,” Nora winced, “A long story.”

“Well, I hope to hear it one day.” Piper winked at her, “If ya ever want to tell me, I’ll be at the ‘Publick Occurances’ office.”

“Wait,” Nora grabbed Piper’s arm before she could walk away, “I’m looking for,” she struggled to remember Mama Murphy’s advice, “A bright heart?” she weakly questioned.  
Piper narrowed her brows in thought, “Bright heart?” She thought for a second then snapped, “You must be talking about Nicky’s place. Yeah,” Piper pulled Nora into Fenway.

Nora had to hold back a gasp. Fenway park had been turned into a thriving community. Makeshift houses leaned against each other, strings of lights illuminated the small town on the playing field, some houses stretched up into the stands of the park, and people mingled around a large central pillar in the field. “Head past Takashi’s--that’s the noodle stand in the center there,” Piper pointed out, “That back alley there?” she pointed to a back left road, “You’ll see a sign to Nicky’s. His office is back there.”

“Thank you, Piper.” Nora held out her hand.

“No problem, Blue.” Piper shook it, “Just promise me to give me that story one day, yeah?”

Nora felt like she was making a lot of promises to people she hardly knew, “Promise.”


End file.
